Welcome to the August edition of our monthly Criminal Appeals Bulletin.

The Bulletin aims to highlight recent changes in case law and procedure in England and Wales, Northern Ireland, the Caribbean and Hong Kong and to provide practical guidance to those advising on appellate matters. Our monthly case summaries illustrate when an appellate court is likely to interfere with conviction or sentence, as well as looking at the courts’ approach to procedural matters. The featured article focuses on a current appeal topic - in this edition Liam Walker looks at Lane and Letts - the Supreme Court’s latest decision on the Terrorism Act.

I look at the latest CACD decisions dealing with self-defence and psychosis “attributable to intoxication”, the failure to leave infanticide as an alternative to murder, fresh evidence of autism, whether a non-state party can “entrap” a defendant, and victims of human trafficking.

Joel Bennathan QC continues our series on Financial Crime Appeals and looks at the CACD’s latest decision seeking to address the realities of POCA.

Richard Thomas looks at an appeal from Hong Kong’s CFA in which the question raised was whether the prosecution has a right to a closing speech in the magistracy where the defendant is unrepresented.

I consider a decision from the Caribbean Court of Justice in which the circumstances in which an appeal can be “re-opened” were set out, and the NICA’s approach to “contemporary standards of fairness” that post-date the trial.

Doughty Street has some of the most experienced appellate practitioners at the Bar, including the contributors to the leading works on appellate procedure - The Criminal Appeals Handbook, Taylor on Criminal Appeals, Blackstones Criminal Practice (appeals section), Halsbury’s Laws (Appeals).

Please feel free to e-mail us or to call our crime team on 020 7400 9088. We also offer our instructing solicitors a free Advice Line, where they can discuss initial ideas about possible appeals, at no cost to them or their client.  More information on our services can be found on our website.

We hope that the bulletin is of interest to you. 

Paul Taylor QC

Head of the DSC Criminal Appeals Unit